The round-the-world sailor raising €25m for the ocean: 'We're currently onboarding LPs'

You co-founded Blukap ventures and recently joined the German VC fund Redstone Nordics, which focuses on the ocean. How did that come about?

Some of our investors were based in Finland and introduced me to Kaj Hagros, managing director at Redstone Nordics, in the spring of 2025.

Redstone was in the early stages of launching its new Ocean strategy at the time, and we quickly realised there was a strong alignment on values, investments and strategy.

Redstone also had a bit more substance behind it. They have around €600m in assets under management and more than 200 portfolio companies across various thematic funds, with a very strong track record. That made the decision to join forces fairly straightforward.

You're looking to raise €25m. How's that going?

I think anyone raising capital right now would say it's a tough market, with processes and decisions that can take a long time. But there's something positive in that too – it raises the bar for funds, and ultimately for the companies seeking capital from us.

That said, we've been pleasantly surprised by the response we've had in our meetings and by the pace of fundraising overall. The LPs we're meeting understand that generating a positive impact and delivering market-rate returns don't have to be mutually exclusive.

Should I read that as things moving a little slowly?

No, I wouldn't say that. We kicked off the fundraise last autumn and we're currently onboarding LPs ahead of our first close, with the aim of making our first investments from the fund before the summer.

What are you actually looking for when you meet a blue economy entrepreneur for the first time – what makes you want to hear more?

First and foremost, we need to get a sense of whether the technology or company, and the team behind it, have a realistic chance of hitting the return targets we set. The brutal maths is that we only invest if there's a credible path to the investment returning the entire fund within seven to ten years – and that's something we never compromise on.

If those conditions are in place, we'll take a follow-up meeting to go deeper on the team, their experience, the technology, the market and so on.

You've previously said the Nordics is one of the world's hottest clusters for the blue economy – but that France, the Netherlands and Singapore are ahead. How does that add up?

That's right. The Nordics has world-leading expertise in the blue economy when it comes to research, technology, innovation and entrepreneurship. There's also an overrepresentation of large companies here, many of them category leaders, which makes the Nordic ecosystem genuinely unique from a global perspective. But what's holding back a lot of that growth is the lack of early-stage capital.

Other clusters around the world have recognised this long ago. They're investing heavily to strengthen their positions, with a far more strategic agenda around the blue economy and much greater access to capital from both public and institutional investors.

Which segment of the blue economy to watch?

Ocean data and monitoring will grow extremely strongly, driven partly by the geopolitical situation and partly by a growing need for decision support around what's happening in and on the sea – something that affects not just established marine industries but society as a whole.

Water is a fairly well-covered theme, but we're seeing a lot of exciting applications in dual use, production and particularly in water purification technology. Last but not least, there's a major transition underway in shipping that will drive a whole wave of new innovations and applications.

What's the most common misconception about the ocean as an investment theme?

The most common question we get is whether there are enough good companies to invest in – and there are. Within Redstone we have deal flow data on more than three million companies, and the fund's longlist includes over 1,500 investable businesses. Growth has been very strong in recent years and we're seeing signs that this will continue.

Tell us something about yourself that most people don't know.

I can call myself a circumnavigator. Together with my wife and our three children, we sailed around the world over two years, starting and finishing in the Stockholm archipelago. An adventure covering 38,000 nautical miles in total.

This is a Friday coffee break. What are you having?

I went to the gym this morning so I'm on an energy drink right now – but it'll be coffee soon enough!